From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
Laser beams we're about to awesome all your dreams
For once (shhhhhh), Wessex is wrong (at least about the Grounds) and is thrilled that her worries never came to fruition. In the latter half of the week, she leaves Isla to the Infirmary and begins to go about her regular activities, albeit with a terribly red nose and the pervading, pine-fresh small of wintergreen surrounding her like she’s a walking, talking, car freshener.
There’s always something to do - and now that they’ve decided what kind of weapon the spire will be, they need to build something (to be honest, she’s not sure what they’re building, but they need metal and she remembers where they got the metal from last time. With a notice on the Board asking yet again for assistance (just pretend it’s there), the Wraith heads to the Ruins to do some very thorough scavenging.
There are bits there which haven’t been moved in decades, so the General starts with one of the oldest, most overgrown areas and begins heaving slabs of rock around to try and find whatever might be buried underneath it.
Nikolai had wandered into the ruins tonight, acting on a bizarre idea that he just couldn't get out of his head. The Atheneum was filled with ancient and useful books, but he'd yet to find anything about the Relics or how/why they were created. So now he's turned to another source. The Ruins. There was surely a book or two buried here and although most were likely just old novels and such, it wouldn't hurt to check.
It as he was rifting through some of the rubble that he heard the sound of roots tearing and rocks scraping against the earth. Following the sound he found Wessex sifting through the ruins as well. "Hey Wessex. What are you looking for?" The young Ascended was beginning to wonder how he kept running into the Demi-god on her errands.
Laser beams we're about to awesome all your dreams
It’s true, you’d have to be deaf and blind to miss Wessex’s recent actions. She is not being so careful about it, and the shifting of giant stones is hardly subtle.
And it’s a task she needs to fully focus on, lest someone - or something around her - gets hurt or destroyed more than it needs to be. So she doesn’t notice Nikolai until he’s right up on her. Turning suddenly, the demigoddess os obviously surprised. “Oh! Hey Nikolai.” Placing the bit she’s currently trying to shift down again, she raises a brow inquiry. “Lookin’ for metal for the spire thing. You?”
To be fair, she isn’t quite sure what the younger Ascended does with his time. But if he has a moment, she has no qualms about roping him in.
Nikolai eyes the upturned earth curiously. He hadn't thought of the ruins as a good source of the material but it was logical now that he considered it. "Metal? I can help you look." The sooner they got the spire defense up and running, the better. He steps forward and begins to join her in lifting up the debris in search of scraps. He could certainly multi-task looking for metal and books so he had no issue joining in to help Wessex.
Wessex's question however gets a sheepish look. "I was actually looking for books. I figured.. well... ruins. So maybe some older books were left behind? I haven't found anything on the Relics in the Atheneum yet so I thought I might as well try out here." Nikolai knew the chances were slim but it was worth the attempt.
Laser beams we're about to awesome all your dreams
“Great.” Flashing him a quick smile, Wessex returns her focus to the slab she’s lifting, straining a bit get a proper grip on it before shoving it up above her head. One side remains in the dirt, but lo and behold - there is something shiny underneath it. A sheet of metal, much like what they’d put on the roof of the Barracks earlier. “Watch out,” the Wraith says, before she pushes up and sends the mass to its other side.
“I’m not really surprised,” she muses back to the kid when he finishes talking about books. “Three hundred years and anything’ll decay, right? Plus if it’s a war they wanted to forget, or… I don’t know, the information was purposefully destroyed? They probably would’ve been thorough. Someplace like Halo or Torchline might have more info.” If he’s clever and unobtrusive and knows where to look. Jerking the metal from its prison, Wessex slides a little in the mud. “You visit the Voice yet?” she asks, remembering the last time they talked and about his desire for a translation upgrade.
Bending down, Nikolai scoops up other bits of metal that have been revealed by Wessex's work. Placing them to the side, he gives a small nod. "I might have to take a look, best cover all our bases." Any bit of information that could help would be worth it. The younger Ascended wasn't much of a fighter, at least not yet. Finding information was the best that he could do for now, so of course he was putting his all into it.
Nikolai perks up when Wessex questions him about his talk with the Voice. "I did!" He blinks, slightly embarrassed at his blatant excitement. Smiling shyly he explains, "I did. I told her what I was after and she said that she'd help me get an upgrade that would help. I've been working on completing the tasks she gave me. I'm almost done too."
Nikolai was incredibly excited at how close he was to acquiring his first upgrade. Especially since it was one that he so desperately wanted. Being able to decipher codes and languages would be an incredible asset for him.
Laser beams we're about to awesome all your dreams
Never one to discourage thoroughness, Wessex simply nods in agreement and is thankful that someone else is going to be combing through things with a fine-toothed comb.
Once he’s retrieved the bits of metal, the General sets the slab down again, brushes off her hands, flexs them and wiggles her fingers as if they might be cramped (they’re not) and then takes a scrutinizing look around for their next target. However, she allows herself to get momentarily distracted by news of the quest, which sends her into a grand smile, tips of her fangs glinting in the dim light. “That’s great! Do you mind if I ask what it is?” In the meantime, she wanders over to where there’s been a bit of a cave in and begins to try and claw away the overgrowth - the ivy and the bushes - to reveal a hole where something had clearly once made its home.
Seems empty now, but it has her squatting and peering into it, curious to what might have held the stone up. Maybe something metal?
Nikolai ducks his head and smile shyly at how pleased Wessex is with the news. Squatting down her and beginning to help remove platn and debris, Nikolai gives a shrug. "I actually don't know exactly how it will turn out. I asked our Lady for something to help me read and decipher languages and codes. She said she could help me but didn't give any specifics."
Removing a jumble of roots, Nikolai glances at Wessex. "The main ingredients are an obsidian sphere and a paper wasp. Any ideas on what that mean for the end result?" He assumed the sphere would be the basis of the eye and that the wasp might give whatever information it had in its wings. But Nikolai wasn't sure how that would create a universal translator or cipher.
Laser beams we're about to awesome all your dreams
“Yeah, she isn’t always the most direct, except when she wants to be.” Chuckling quietly, Wessex recalls her own past quests. “And she works in mysterious ways. I’ve seen it - the way she creates something out of bits and pieces, it really is extraordinary. Paper wasps eat books, so that might be translation part. Obsidian sphere… well it’s eye shaped, so that might be how she fits it to your existing parts. Mine is in my eye too. Or near it. Something like that.” The Voice’s creations are truly unique and span a far wider range than simple gadgets and magics.
Soon, the Wraith might be able to tell Nikolai about how the Voice made her in to a bird, and how amazing it was to see her body projected above her, the whole process she goes through.
She spots some more small metal bits, their tops just barely poking out of the ground. “Just grab those there and then I think we’ll have enough.”
Nikolai nods in agreement, "She's incredible. I can't wait to see what she has in mind. It's probably better then whatever I'm imagining." Their Lady's mind far surpassed his and Nikolai had no doubt that she'd considered options and drawbacks beyond what he could comprehend. Whatever she had in mind and whatever would result of his quest, he had no doubt it would be exactly what he needed, even if it was something unexpected.
Grabbing the metal when prompted, Nikolai bundles it up in his arms. Once he has everything situated and balanced, he gives Wessex a nod. "Ready. Let's get going." With Wessex leading, Nikolai follows her off with the metal that they needed.
